Health Minister David Ashford has told a conference that his department must work with the third sector to improve health services.

Mr Ashford was speaking as a guest at the mental health charity Quing’s conference at the Villa Marina, held on Friday by the charity’s founder, Graham Clucas.

The Health and Social Care Minister was asked how DHSC and the charity can work together moving forward to ensure patients receive the best care.

Mr Ashford said: ’For too long, from my point of view, when it comes to an individual’s health needs, we’ve been locked into the same system where people are pushed through a set system that doesn’t necessarily treat them as an individual, look at their needs and doesn’t end up providing for those needs when they are back in the community.

’It is important we break that.

’When I first became Minister, one of the first people to come and see me was Graham and I’m very keen to ensure that the department can help Quing achieve its ambitions.

’One of the things I’ve found, in two years as Minister, is you’ve got to break this barrier that the DHSC knows best. The department and government isn’t always the best place. We need to engage with third sector providers because they are the people who will be able to deliver the community services.’

He said his department had sought to do this in other areas such as the creation of an independent health body, Manx Care. But said his department ’must not be afraid’ to think differently and to ’go away from the norm’.

Mr Clucas has achieved one of his three aims for the next 12 months: to secure a new headquarters, which it has achieved by taking over the former St Thomas’ School.

He also wants Quing to become a member of a network of charities known as the Community of Communities and to secure funding.

His third aim may also come true this year as Mr Ashford suggested he wants to change how his department issues grants for community and charity partners.

At present, this is done on a yearly basis, but Mr Ashford said he would prefer to set budgets for multiple years to ’provide certainty’ to charities like Quing.

He said: ’In relation to funding and again I am going to be quite blunt, the way DHSC has decided its funding in the past has been completely haphazard.

’It’s been done on the basis of grants and just looking at individual things here and there. What we need to move to is proper commissioning where we commission services and courses.

’That process is ongoing, I have already had talks within the department surrounding the work that Quing is done and I’m keen to see Quing engage in that process to see what services we can commission from them.’

Mr Ashford said if the DHSC was to shift to this model, it would provide greater certainty to charities.